Culture and Society
PUBLISHED
Four years after a dead body was found inside a barrel with a bullet hole in its skull at Lake Mead, Las Vegas police have identified the victim as Edward "Buddy" Lelburian Jackson.
How authorities identified the body in a barrel at Lake Mead
At a media conference on October 15, Las Vegas authorities explained how they managed to crack the cold case using a combination of genetics, forensic science, and old-school police work.
Clark County Coroner Melanie Rouse said they had obtained DNA from the remains shortly after they had been recovered near Hemenway Harbor in May 2022, when Lake Mead’s shrinking waters revealed the body. However, the victim's DNA initially didn’t match anyone in their genetic database.
Then, in early 2024, a bone sample sent for genealogy profiling came back with a possible match that “was close and within the same family, but not close enough for us to consider it a compelling match,” explained Rouse.
Another genetic sample from the body was sent to forensic scientists at Oklahoma State University (OSU) in 2025 and, earlier this year, they found a "strong lead" on the identity of the victim.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) was brought in to find potential family members of Jackson. Eventually they found one, and their DNA sample was sent to OSU.
All the puzzle pieces came together: the victim was Edward Lelburian Jackson, nicknamed "Buddy".
Who was Edward "Buddy" Lelburian Jackson?
Jackson is believed to have died after being shot in the head in the 1980s, when he was in his mid-fifties.
He was originally from Hot Springs in Arkansas, but was known to spend time throughout the western US. He had lived in California with his wife for a “short period of time” during the early ’70s, and was charged with aggravated arson and conspiracy to commit fraud in Utah during the early 80s.
So far, police have found no personal ties between Jackson and Las Vegas.
As for why he was shot before being bundled into a barrel and then dumped in Lake Mead, the police are still investigating.
Since he had an apparently violent death and the body was found on the outskirts of Las Vegas, many speculated he became tangled up in organized crime. However, the police were keen to say they have no evidence of this yet.
“I know there’s been speculation in the past that the homicide had ties to an organized criminal group. However, at this point of our investigation, we don’t have any information to support those theories,” Robert Price, LVMPD Homicide Lt., said at the news conference.
The many bodies of Lake Mead
Jackson is just one of several bodies that have recently surfaced at Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the US, formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River.
Over the past four decades, Lake Mead has been drying up at an astonishing rate. The last time it reached full capacity was in 1983, when water levels peaked at 373.5 meters (1225.44 feet), but by 2026, those levels had dwindled to just 317.09 meters (1,040.3 feet).
As a result, the shoreline has become increasingly exposed, revealing historic shipwrecks, sunken aircraft, ghost towns, and at least four human bodies.
Three of these people were swiftly identified, but the remaining “barrel murder” remained unsolved until this week.
Now authorities have an ID on the victim, they’re hoping they’re a step closer to finding the perpetrator.
“It's an unsolved case. It will never be closed until we solve it. It's a piece of the puzzle, and as we get more and more pieces, we'll be able to keep on digging deeper,” said Price.
“I'd like to ask the public: if anyone has any information on Edward, we urge you to call the LVMPD Homicide Section or, if you wish to remain anonymous, you can call Crime Stoppers in Nevada,” he added.
